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Chapter 3: Fright Night
"Oh." Nicodemus looked himself over, remembering that indeed he was naked. "So I am."
Five seconds pass.
"That is beside the point," he attempted to get back on the set path that was narrow and long. "The son for which I am seeking, though he is not of my blood, I care for him ex-TRAAAAIIIN-ueously, man. He is often misunderstood by social conventions. Ya know about them, right? The social conventions? Let me tell ya, they can be pretty wicked." He laughed for a solid half-minute before picking up his guitar case and asking, "Mind if I come in?"
Brooke snorted, "She should hear how my last few relationships turned out. Noah's not dangerous. I'd venture to say he's the most harmless one of the lot of us. You do notice he's completely lacking in subtlety right? There's no chance he's dangerous. And, quite frankly, Jamie knew what she was getting into."
***
"Oh, here we go again..." muttered Micah, "Any of you guys strapped too?"
His gaze fell on Carl, "Don't answer that."
"Smoke, unless you resolve not to hold the gun like fucking Tupac, kindly just leave it here."
"Maybe we can help?" asked Micah, stepping forward.
Eli looked at him warily, "You?"
"Yes, me! I'm not completely useless," he folded his arms huffily, "And Carl knows all about swamps and the things that live in them, so he's double useful."
"And your useful skills include...what, being pretty?"
"You think I'm pretty?" Micah cocked an eyebrow.
"Fine. Fine, if you...want to help, you can help. I warn you guys, she's probably puking in a mudpit anywhere and you're all just wasting your time. But she's my responsibility, and I'm stuck with her."
"That's beautiful."
Eli glared at him. Micah shrugged, smirking cheekily.
***
Phyllis looked haplessly from the stranger to the newly awakened principal.
"I...er...I'm not really..."
"Hubba Hubba..." Tina lurched to her feet, "Who ordered the stripper?"
"He's looking for something?" Phyllis explained, "Some...one?"
"Oh, for God's sake," Theodora was next to stir, blinking at the man with a somewhat comical expression on her face, "Never again. It's just water and weak tea from now on."
"You may be hungover," said Tina, "But you're seeing him."
"Looks like a vagrant," observed Fitz, "See, he has one of those symbols on his drawers."
"The peace sign?" asked Phyllis thinly.
"Beatnik, most like."
"Who are you?" asked Phyllis, "And...how did you get here?"
"Walked, by the look of those blisters," grumbled Tina, "But I dunno, I think it adds something."
-Brooke, Micah, Phyllis, Tina, Theodora and Fitz
"I'm just saying that I get it, Brooke," Audrey sighed.
"I know how to hold a piece right, Eli," replied Smoke. Hippie that his Uncle was, he had drilled gun safety into him from a young age.
'Fucking Hippie,' Teague thought to himself as he got out of bed, "Who are you looking for?"
Nicodemus reassured to the cool chick's friends, "I wear and live by the peace sign, my brethren and sisteren. I come in pea..."
"YVAIN!" Dave struggled to his feet, drunkest he had been in years. "Yvain the White Knight!" He made his way to Yvain and clasped him by the shoulders. "Crazed and naked, he ran into the wood, yet to become a true hero!" He looked to his colleagues excitedly, as if he just met a celebrity. "Don't you recognize him? Yvain! From one of the King Arthur stories, titled...Yvain!"
Nicodemus took the old guy's hands off his shoulders. "I'm not from that story, man, but come to tell my own of a troubled boy who is on the run." He sauntered inside, encased guitar in hand. "This sure is a groovy joint ya got here. You folks tryin' to find yourselves in the wilderness or somethin'? I mean, a lot y'all seem to be at that age where ya start questionin' your life and all its mysteries. I already did my wilderness-self-discovery journey a few years ago. I climbed a mountain, man. It was excellent." He smacked his lips, trying to remember where and who and why he was. "Where was I?"
"The name," reiterated Teague, "Give is the name."
"I'm not drunk enough for this," remarked Tina at Dave's outburst.
"Edward, the man is mad," said Theodora, "I wouldn't..." she trailed off, turning her head, "On the run, you say?"
"Butch or Sundance, now?" asked Fitz wryly, "Come on. Out with it."
"Oh, I suppose I understand too..." Brooke shrugged, "Still, if Noah is obsessed, well...maybe that's not the worst thing. Like, if there wasn't a murderer running around murdering, sure, red flag, but..." she shrugged, "I mean, he's got an excuse."
"What if he's wrong though? And the killer isn't on his suspect list?"
Nicodemus sat down on one of the beds, tired of his trek. "He's a patient I tend to at the Crawford Institute not too far from here. Now part of doctor-patient confidentiality dictates I keep his name secret." He smiled blankly for a moment. "But considering I'm not fond of secrets or dictators, I'll tell ya anyway..." He unzipped his guitar bag and pulled out his baby. "...in a lil' explanin' song."
"Yvain, knight and bard!" Dave cheered, clapping his hands.
"Lemme tell ya about a troubled soul/who done run away from the Hole--in the prison, that is--He is a nice boy but maaaan, he gives the bad vibes/The bad vibes that ring from the misunderstood tribes--of which he was one--So I tried to help him swim through the negative waves with a paddle/But then he off and skedaddled/He ran away like he did from his all his mistakes/Like from all those lil' youngin's whose live he did take..."
Dave's face paled whiter than any white knight. This man was singing of bloodshed!
"So here I'm am on a quest to find this clever fox/One by the name of...Kieran Wil-cox." Nicodemus finished up with a few finessed notes at the end, concluding his song. Then, beaming, he said with a wide smile, "I was thinkin' of that song the whole way here. Ain't it nice how our little machinations just come together?" His expression darkened as he looked to the floor. "I wish we'd come together, too. As a human race, I mean. Though you do seem like nice folk."
-Nicodemus and Dave
"Son of a bitch." Teague's eyes went wife at the name. Wilcox was on the loose.
They all stood about in blank silences throughout the stranger's song. At one point, (when he rhymed 'paddle' with skeedaddle') Tina snapped her fingers as though she were at a club.
After he was done, though, they all just stared at each other with a rapt fascination. Until, finally, Fitz started applauding, "Excellent! Excellent, indeed! Oh, very good!"
"I hardly think..." began Theodora, but Fitz had already stepped forward, "Who's paying you, you scraggle-haired knave? My son? Tracy Lewis? Which of the mopheaded ingrates?"
"You think this is a prank?" asked Howard, who had remained silent up till now, his stony visage finally showing some expression.
"Oh, you know these kids as well as I. Ten to one, he's got a camera down that G-strap..." he reached for the stranger's underpants, but Tina slapped his hand away, "You're supposed to pay 'em, first, cheapskate."
"I told you, I am not a homosex…"
"You can't possibly mean Kieran Wilcox has escaped?" exclaimed Theodora, "The boy was in maximum security..."
"At the Crawford Institute," Phyliss nodded, "He got that much right," she turned to the stranger, "You were his attending physician?"
"They assigned this man to examine a homicidal maniac?"
"It's a private prison, Vice Principal."
"Oh, well, that explains it."
"I'm glad you think we seem like nice folk," said Phyllis, smiling despite the fear in her gut, "You seem nice too. As it happens, we've all got a vested interest in Kieran Wilcox. You never told us your name, or your speciality… I'm in the field too," she added, as if that would help, "Phyllis Hendricks, I..." she cleared her throat, "I contributed testimony at Wilcox's trial."
-Fitz, Theodora, Phyllis, Tina and Howard
Nicodemus held his hands in defense at the angry lady. "Whoa, missus! Just those drab dudes at Crawford, I swear! Man, this place is stinkin' with negative energy!"
His eyes widened with delight when the cool chick spoke. "Y'all know Kieran, too? And your in our field of dreams? Well, that is the jive, sister! The name's Nicodemus. Nicodemus Langley."
Flustered, Dave staggered over to Nicodemus. "I'm Dave Evans, professor of English at, er, Oxford." He turned away, muttering to himself, "Just like Yvain. Just like him!"
-Nicodemus and Dave
"Can somebody please sit him down?" barked Theodora, gesturing to Dave haplessly. Howard, mopping his brow, took Dave by the arm, "Come on, now, Dave, just have a seat..."
"Nico...deemus?" asked Phyllis, "That's...quite a name."
"Nah, man," Nicodemus clarified. "Nic-ODD-emus. Dig?"
Dave muttered something about digging graves as Howard sat him down.
"What about your names? What do all y'all swing by?"
-Nicodemus and Dave
"Teague."
Emma blinked at the situation going on in her room with Audrey and Brooke, and she just listened for once.
"You guys...we're all worried about Noah, he stayed up late talking all night before this trip with Deanna."
***
Aleks nodded her head, looking at him. "I won't run out again."
She leaned down to untie her boots and pull them off after he set her down.
Once that was done she removed the socks and set them aside as well. "Well I did a pretty damn good job..."
She reached for her backpack, pulling out her first aid kit. "I'll guide you with the wrapping, if you want to learn to do it better and everything?"
She opened up two gauze pads and placed some ointment on them, "Put these on first, than we use the bandage wrap." She held out the wrap, which was self adhesive sports wrap, don't ask why she had it, though by now she was sure Zach would already know why.
"That is to say, Edward Teague," clarified Theodora, suddenly feeling like some Victorian maidservant parading the gentry before each other, "Our principal. I'm Theodora Kellerman, the Vice Principal. Your biggest fan over there," she nodded over to the bunk, "Is Dave Evans, our English teacher, Dr. Hendricks is our social worker..."
"Tina Hudson," she stepped forward, hand outstretched, "I'm no teacher, but I know a thing or two about..."
"Fitz Ulick Kasper Smith. Don't expect a handshake."
"I'm Howard Jensen," the pastor said curtly, "Your patient tried to kill my daughter. Several times."
"Well," said Phyllis, almost apologetically, "To be fair, he's tried to kill most of our children, several times."
"My son almost got skewered," said Tina, "I cried for days. Wasn't pretty," the smile vanished from her face, "This is when you explain in real plain English just how he got away from you."
"I tell you, the man's lying!" repeated Fitz, "He's no psychologist, though he'd benefit from seeing one."
Phyllis considered, looking Nicodemus up and down, "You must have some way to prove who you are to us? You'll forgive us if we're a little wary of strangers."
-Theodora, Phyllis, Tina, Fitz and Howard
"I thought he was arguing with Jamie?" asked Brooke, "What does he have to do with her?" but Brooke paused, remembering, "Calls from Special K. How could I've forgotten?"
***
"I'm not completely clueless," but Zach smiled, getting about his work, "Okay, but you do have to admit, you couldn't put some shoes on before throwing yourself at the door. I mean..." he shrugged, "Like I said, I'm not worth all that."
He noted the empty bunk across the room, "Guess it's a good thing Audrey's not here. This whole thing can be our secret."
He paused, reddening, "Sort of."
-Brooke and Zach
"I was a little pissed about your texts...I was going to send one back, but I guess emotions just sort of ran away with me and I left in my pajamas and ran over."
Aleks said, shrugging some as she looked at the empty bunk.
"Yeah, our little secret."
She watched him work, daring a bold move after everything.
"I guess one of the other reasons is because I kinda freaked out....I've been noticing that our music teacher hasn't been seen since we first arrived, and than Deanna Wilcox of all people went running off, and nobody's seen her since. Guess I just thought that...I didn't want to lose someone else, not that I'm close to either of them...but you kinda get where I'm coming from?" She asked, placing a hand on his shoulder as she sat there.
Nicodemus frowned when he realized these were the folks affected by Kieran's mistakes. "I'm sorry to hear that, man. And I promise ya, Kieran's sorry, too, but he's got a funny way of showin' it, that's for sure."
He turned to the cool chick. "Well, uh, funny thing about that. When Kieran escaped, he, uh, sent me to la-la land. Then, uh," Nicodemus cleared his throat. "He stripped me bare." Realizing that might sound flimsy, Nicodemus hastily added, "I got some paperwork in my guitar case, though. Promise!" He dug into his bag and took out his series of songs and mood charts, and handed them out. "My humble dedication to the world of medicine. Take a gander, my friends."
"Aleks, that's not really..."
But he sighed, "I guess I know what you mean," he hesitated, "No, I...I do know what you mean. After my Mom died, I didn't know what to do with myself. Every time i entered a room, it was like I was going back in there to see her dead, knowing what I'd find..."
He notes his hand beginning to shake and stills it, "For a while after that, I couldn't really look at anybody without thinking it might be the last time," he turned to her, "Sometimes I still think that. It's no way to live, but I haven't been able to shake it."
He turns to her, "You don't have to feel responsible for everybody who doesn't turn up, Aleks. I mean, with my Mom..."
That was my fault, he thinks, loud and clear, I was responsible. If it wasn't for me...
"It'd probably be the same with your Mom too, I guess, after all she did for you," he sighed, "But some people just do their own thing. Good for them, I guess."
***
"Sounds like my nephew," muttered Tina, "So, what, he's wandering around the freeway wearing bell-bottoms and polyester?"
"Mood charts?" asked Fitz, incredulous, turning the paper over.
"Harold had something like this," noted Theodora, "Though he ran out of ideas for moods at 'five'. "
"Well, I know I'm currently a Number 2," Fitz lowered the paper with a flourish, "Very displeased! Any fool could've printed out this codswallop..."
"APA watermark," Phyllis indicated a faded imprint on the back of the sheet she'd been given, "You only get that if you print from their records, and you can't access their records without a member I.D," she turned to Nicodemus, "He's legit."
"Oh dear God," muttered Theodora, "No offense...doctor," the word didn't set well on her tongue "But I'd have preferred if you were just some roving con-artist," she heaved a breath, "Have the police been notified?"
"Do you have any idea where Wilcox was going when he left?" demanded Howard.
"Who needs to ask?" Tina looked about darkly, "He's made it pretty damn obvious there's one place he'd like to be."
-Phyllis, Tina, Fitz, Theodora and Howard
Aleks reached down and stopped his hands, holding onto them right now.
"Look Zach...I get it, its horrible for what you've had to go through..." She held onto his hands, releasing one before patting her bed so that he could sit next to her.
She knew that he had his own share of wounds and damage, and right now she was afraid that things would only get worse from here on out. "I know I'm not responsible...but I feel like I've lost too many people to count...and honestly if I could, I'd send my mom far away from where we are in Lakewood. We may have changed our last names, but we are still the same people from that horrid place with that horrid background."
"I want you to listen really hard to what I'm gonna say to you right now. So this is why I need you to come and sit up here next to me right now."
"The po-po?" Nicodemus scratched his chin. "Well, last I checked the guards went out lookin' for him, and they called the fuzz at Lakewood. I assume that's where he's goin' but..." He chuckled. "My Prius was runnin' on half-empty when I drove to work today. I was figurin' he maybe broke down and had to walk to a joint like this."
"Jamie didn't mention anything about Deanna. I guess she left before Dee showed up," Audrey explained, "And can you imagine what would have happened if Dee had showed up if Jamie was still there?"
***
"So that means he might here, in this camp." It wasn't a question.
Zach leaned forward, "Um...okay," he positioned himself on the edge of the bed, feeling a little stupid about it as he did. He wasn't entirely sure if Aleks did get it. He wouldn't blame her if she didn't, it...it wasn't the kind of thing that could be adequately explained, or else neither of them would have be sitting here right now.
"What is it?"
***
"A place like this..." Theodora sighed, "Where two dozen of the people he's terrorized before are all neatly assembled."
"A pretty coincidence," observed Fitz dryly, "I still don't believe it."
"And you'll keep saying that 'till my nephew's cutting sweet nothings into that pasty skin," Tina looked around, "This was a shit idea from the beginning. I said it then, I'm saying it now."
"We must get the kids together," said Theodora.
"The kids?" demanded Tina, "Fuck the kids, we've got to get my son over here before that bastard tries to finish the job."
"Emma should be seen to as well," said Howard, "Isn't that..." he looked around, "Maggie? Where...where's Maggie?"
"She went out after you," said Phyllis haplessly, "You didn't meet her on the way back?"
"Obviously not," Howard's expression was icier than Phyllis might have expected, as if he resented her speaking at all. She turned away, uncomfortable, "There's also Deanna. Oh my God, nobody's seen her in hours."
"Wouldn't be the first time he's snatched his sister," remarked Tina, "Can't say I didn't try to find her."
***
"Of course you can handle a piece," said Eli, "Fine. Sure, I'll buy it."
He looked from Carl to Noah, "Not that this is an open invitation, but it feels like an insult to have Smoke along and not at least offer."
Micah shrugged at Carl, "I don't know, it sounds almost fun," he cleared his throat, speaking to the others at large, "Fair warning, there is definitely something out there. Carl and I heard it snuffling around earlier."
He paused, "Jury's out whether or not it's a person. Just...figured we should get it out there."
-Zach, Theodora, Tina, Phyllis, Howard, Fitz, Eli and Micah
"I'm calling the Sheriff," stated Teague. They were not equipped properly to handle this. They needed professionals. He did NOT have enough guns to arm everyone.
***
"What were you two doing out?" asked Stavo, an eyebrow raised.
"We were...we were..." Carl looked to Micah, for approval. Could they make this public yet?
Dave had stared aimlessly ever since Howard sat him down. This news of the Wilcox boy, acting as a harbinger of bad news, doom, murder again to this town--it unsettled him so.
Wilcox boy. Wilcox...
"I've seen her," Dave returned his gaze to the others. "I've seen Deanna Wilcox. It was some hours ago, but it wasn't too far from that dreadful tree. Maybe we...we should start there, yes."
"Sound idea," said Theodora, "I'll make sure everyone's where they're supposed to be."
"You'll be wanting a hand in that," Howard pulled on his jacket.
Teague's phone call, however, proved less than fortuitous. No sooner had 911 been dialed then a strange, jazzy solo began to play, faintly audible to the others.
"That isn't..." Phyllis began, dialing the number for herself and getting the same music.
"Kenny G?" Fitz frowned, "What devilry is this?"
"Maybe it's just 911?" Phyllis tried Micah's number, "And...no, it's just saxophone here too."
"Jesus fuck, we're under attack!" exclaimed Tina, "Fuck you all, I'm finding my kid."
"That actually sounds like a decent idea," said Phyllis.
***
"What were you two doing out?" Micah challenged.
"Er...looking for my cousin?" asked Eli.
"Ah. Right."
Eli looked from Micah to Carl, "Wait, Carl's gay?"
"That is absolutely nobody's busi…"
"That is fucking awesome," Eli turned to Smoke, "You aren't too, by any chance? Aw, forget it, you've still had her fooled one way or another."
"I'm glad you're enjoying this."
"Hey, what you do with each other's holes is none of my business," Eli turned to Carl, "Your hype-guy over here says you know swamp stuff." "He basically killed half of today wandering around this place," said Micah, "For fun."
"Well, that's awesome. Any obvious hiding places come to mind?"
***
"She'd have to be out of her mind to think Noah and Deanna were up to something," but the thought brought a wry smile to Brooke's face all the same, "You know, given we're all friends here, I don't think Noah would be super upset if I told you he thinks Deanna is uber-suspicious. She still ranks under Stavo for God Knows Why at this point, but she's up there."
She decided to continue withholding who Noah thought was unsuspicious, not only for Audrey's dignity but, for some weird reason she couldn't quite name, her own.
-Theodora, Howard, Phyllis, Fitz, Tina, Eli, Micah and Brooke